Hidden Shadows
by Demetra Blackstone
Summary: When Jemima Allson leaves the safety of her college campus to get away from someone in her past, she thinks she's found people that can help her. But can she really trust the people that have taken her under their wing with her secrets? SYOC
1. Prologue

_**Disclaimer: I don't own DC Comics or the Titans.  
**_

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*******  
**PROLOGUE**  
*** * ***

Dust covered Jemima Allson's skin, giving the allusion that it was darker than it actually was, and her hip length, wavy, black hair was so matted that the nineteen year old wished she could stop at the nearest motel in order to clean up. If she wanted to get away from Xander Jones, she knew she would have to keep running until she made it to the corner where she had promised that young woman that they would meet up. All Jemima had to do was keep quiet, and not use superpowers she'd been born with, and Xander would be unable to track her. Except that those powers had thrown a wrench in her plans.

If she didn't remain in total control of her emotions, Jemima knew that Xander would be able to use those emotions as a beacon and locate her without her even knowing. And if he found her, then he would be able use those same emotions against her before she even knew what was going on. He might even send the one member of his gang that he knew she would be able trust implicitly to capture her heart. Once someone had fallen in love with her...she knew what the consequences were if that someone weren't the right person. She just wasn't sure if she was willing to pay the price, which was why she couldn't let anyone know how she was feeling. Not even herself.

As she made her way down an alley a few blocks from where she was to meet up with the woman, she heard a siren in the distance. Her heart began to beat faster as the siren drew closer. Soon, the siren was close behind her, and Jemima climbed onto a bench that was right next to her, and sat with her knees to her chest, rocking back and forth, hyperventilating as she tried to block out the pain caused by the noise by covering her ears with her hands. A pain that she believed that no one else would understand. Not even the young woman she would be meeting up soon or the goon that Xander would surely be sending her way the moment he found out that she'd she'd slipped through his fingers. Not even Emmeline Whitcomb, her roommate at Ellsmore University would truly understand her despite the fact she _was_ studying to be a psychologist.

"Hey. You alright?" A voice said, struggling to break through the meltdown the siren has caused.

Shaking her head, Jemima just sat on the bench, rocking back and forth as she muttered the same word over and over. No one knew why she did that. Nor did they understand why she chose the word thorn as the word she used when she was stressed out. All they knew was that she did that, and it helped calm her down.

The woman put her hand on Jemima's shoulder, causing her to flinch. "I asked, "You alright?"

"No." She got up off the bench, and sprinted towards the nearest cross street. The street lamps were already starting to switch on as she reached the corner of Vine and Maple. While it may not have been the street corner she wanted, she knew that she wasn't going to explain to the lady why she was freaking out about the siren. And she wasn't about to tell anyone her secret.

_I may be only a computer science major whom people think won't do anything, but I got myself into this mess. And now, I have to be the one to get my out of it without any of Mom's advice or Dad's patience. This has to be something I need to do myself._

Jemima glanced around. She knew she was getting close to the corner she'd agreed upon, but her heart was racing, and she still hoped that she wouldn't hear anymore sirens. There would be time for her calm down later, but first she had to get somewhere safe.

* * *

**Form:**

**Name [First, Middle and Last]**

**Nicknames:**

**Preferred Name:**

**Age:**

**Date of Birth [ Month and Day only]:**

**Gender:**

**Sexuality:**

*  
Appearance

Hair:

Eyes:

Skin:

Height:

Weight:

Normal Clothing Style:

*  
Personality  
*

Personality:

Habits:

Mannerisms:

Fears:

Phobias:

Dreams:

Weaknesses:

What they feel about Jemima:

What Type of person would they date:

How do they feel about secrets:

*  
History  
*

Backstory:

Family:

*  
Super related  
*

Code Name:

Powers:

Weaknesses:

Costume:

Accessories:

Hero or Villain:


	2. Chapter I: Shadows

_**Disclaimer: I don't own DC Comics or the Titans.**_

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*******  
**Chapter I**

_Shadows_  
*** * ***

Jemima made it to the corner just in time to see a young woman a little younger than herself get there. She didn't know whom she was or why she there, but her instincts told her that the woman was there for her. There was absolutely no reason why she had to be there.

"Let's go." Jin Kuruso rolled her eyes, wishing that she didn't have to do this, but Tilly had told her that she had to start trusting the others implicitly or she was going to be kicked off the team. And the first place to begin was by believing that the leader's powers were all too real. "I have better things to do than babysit a run away college kid."

Tears began to trickle down Jemima's cheek as she turned away so the raven head wouldn't notice. She had wanted to prove to her parents, Killian and Victoria that she could, despite what everyone believed, that she could be whoever she wanted to be and she wasn't about to let her autism or anyone stand in the way of achieving her dream.

The young woman thought about her parents and how much they fought for her since they adopted her as a newborn. She knew that she was Latina, as her parents had always been open about her ethnicity and had let her have an open relationship with her biological parents, whom were Killian and Victoria's best friends. It was due to this friendship that Jemima knew her biological parents had both been born in the same town in Puerto Rico, but had immigrated to the US as teenagers. She also knew that they had been young when she was born, which was why she was adopted.

Jemima signed something in response, hoping that the other girl would understand her. She'd not spoken a word for the longest time and in fact, couldn't even remember a time when she didn't communicate in sign language. Despite being able to speak, she often chose to sign and reserved her words for when she absolutely needed them

"Quit wastin' my time," Jin snapped, "And tell me what you want."

As she stood there on the corner, Jemima folded her hands in front of her chest and gripped them tightly. She didn't know this stranger whom was three years younger than herself and while she wanted to trust her, there was something about the way Jin was talking to her that made her feel like she couldn't trust her with her emotions. Especially the emotions that revolved around having to leave the roommate that knew every freckle and trigger.

"Please," Jemima squeaked as she tried to keep herself from signing, "I don't like it when people shout at me."

"And I don't like it when people speak something I can't even understand." Jin began wringing her hands as she turned away from Jemima. "And don't even bother trying to communicate in anything other than English. It ain't gonna happen, sweetheart."

Jemima felt her face go red. She preferred American Sign Language to English, and if she had to be honest with herself, she understood the language a whole lot more than she felt she ever would the English language. And for someone to try and tell her that it was wrong for her to use her preferred mode of communication, well, she just felt like she was going to go ballistic.

"Just. Stop." Jemima's eyes filled with tears, and she felt herself beginning to rub the tips of her ears. She wanted to get out of the situation before it caused her to completely shut down for days the way she always did when her mind was put into hyperdrive due to everything around her. "Please."

Jin sighed as she shook her head. Echo hadn't told her about that fact. Or, if she had, then Jin she hadn't been listening too much. All she'd known was that Echo had told her that she was to escort a new member of the team back to the headquarters. And that was when the argument started. She'd spent probably a good ten minutes trying to convince the leader that they didn't need a sixth member on the team. Especially when she was bound to not trust a college student she'd never even heard of. And that was when Echo had stormed off to her bedroom, slamming doors behind her and swearing up a storm.

As she closed her eyes in an attempt to keep herself from shutting down, Jemima took a deep breath. She always hated it when people raised their voice or even actually yelled and now, she just wanted to keep herself calm and think of cats. Or algorithms.

"Come on," Jin growled under her breath. She may only have been an inch or two shorter than Jemima's five foot eight, but something about the way she was carrying herself made Jemima feel so much smaller. "Echo wants me back at headquarters soon. And she doesn't want any harm coming to you. Don't ask me why. And what's your name, anyway?"

"Jemima." The name came out more of squeak than she'd intended, but judging from the feeling in her stomach, she wasn't ready to explain why she was running. And if she was going to follow the girl wearing a school girl uniform out of an anime she'd watched one episode of, she just didn't want to talk until they'd wherever it was they were going. She also could feel her heart race as she thought about whether she ought to let this person in on the fact that she'd been diagnosed with autism sixteen years ago. Or was it thirteen? Whichever it was, it had been so long that she couldn't remember if she'd been three or six. The only thing she knew for certain was that there one thing that she needed to know. "What is your name?"

"For now, you can call me Cinderella." Jin had been reading an old book of fairytales, and felt a connection to the main character. She hadn't even been looking for a code name at that point, but somehow knew that that name was the right

She tapped at the watch at her wrist, hoping that the thing would actually work. But there was no such luck, and she needed the video-call feature on it in order to communicate with Echo. "Shit."

Turning to look at Jin, Jemima asked, "What's wrong? Anything I can help with?"

"The thing's broken." Jin shook her head. She'd tried to convince the team they needed something better than a videophone on the wrist, but Echo had shut her down, as usual, saying that unless they had someone that was good with coding or electronics, or both, that it was the best idea that they had for the time being. "And NO. You probably can't fix it anyhow."

Jemima glanced at her out of the corner of her eye. While she _was _in the Computer Science department at the college, she was double majoring in Computer Electronics as well. After all, she had plan. After she graduated with her Bachelor's degree, she knew she was going to end up going for her Master's, and with any luck, she wanted to earn her Ph.D in cyber security. Then, once she graduated, she wanted to work for WayneTech or Wayne Electronics. Maybe if she was lucky, she would be able to work with Batman himself. "Not right now I can't, but when we get to wherever we're going, I'll be glad to take a look."

"That stinks. Can't even get in touch with Echo right now." Jin looked around at the buildings. Though she recognized a few of them, she knew they were blocks away. The corner where she'd met up with Jemima was only halfway between the college where the young woman went to school and the team's headquarters. "Unless you know of another way."

"I..I've got my phone," Jemima said. Suddenly, she felt like there was someone following them. She couldn't really explain how, but she knew it was because of her powers. Powers that she couldn't explain to the world-or herself-if anyone asked her. All she knew was that her powers were nothing like her computer skills, and also didn't work the same way her brain worked. They _might _help her pick up on what people are feeling better, but they weren't perfect and should she become overwhelmed or oversimulated, they were bound fail and she would be forced to rely solely on the skills that made her want to work for Bruce Wayne. "Keep running, Cinderella. Someone's behind us!"

If Jemima was right, either Xander or one of his underlings had figuredT out where to find her and now, it was time for her to use her powers to get away. She only hoped that it wasn't Sergio Rodriguez, the boy whom had moved in next door when she was three. The two had become fast friends, and as they grew up, she was told that he'd been born in Guatemala, but had immigrated to the US shortly before he moved in.

She turned around to take a quick look at whomever was behind them. Sure enough, she saw the nineteen-year-old with shoulder length black hair and skin that was slightly darker than her own. And the dark brown eyes that seemed to look at her with concern on his face. She wanted to speak to him, but instead found herself using ASL instead. "Sergio, why are you following me? I didn't expect to see you again after I left home to attend college."

"I know," Sergio signed, "But Xander is after you, and I wanted to make certain that you were okay."

She shook her head. "Did Xander send you? I'm really scared that he's going to find me. Wherever I do end up, and..."

Sergio put his hands on Jemima's to keep her from signing, and when he released them, he started to sign himself. "No, silly Dove. Xander did not send me. I actually left on my own and really want to protect you."

Jemima smiled, but wasn't sure how he was going to protect her if she was going with Jin to wherever. She trusted Sergio implicitly, probably more so than her own parents, but there was thing that she couldn't trust. That was Xander's influence on her friend. "Sergi, how are you going to keep me safe?"

She wanted to spend more time with the young man she'd dated until they'd mutually agreed to break it off after high school, but if he wanted to do so, how was he going to do it if Jemima was going to follow this woman somewhere? She didn't know the answer, and really didn't want to know. All she cared about was that Sergio was there and would do anything to keep her safe.

"I do not know, Jemima. I just know that you are important to me, and I can not bear to see you hurt."

Jemima glanced over at Jin whom was waiting to get a move on. The sixteen year old didn't seem to want her to lollygag and have Xander really find her himself. Then, surely he would hurt her. And even though Tilly hadn't said anything about it, Jin knew that was the last thing that the redhead really wanted. "Come on! We've got to go. Echo is waiting for us."

"Sergio is coming with me. He's an...old friend, and wouldn't do anything to me." She turned away from Jin, wishing that she could even hold eye contact. However, she never could understand the eye contact. It made her feel like people were judging her for whom they _wanted_ her to be instead of the person that she was.

About a half hour later, the three of them made it to a dilapidated building. It may have not looked like anyone could have lived there, but, Jin knew otherwise and that was why she was taking Jemima there. Why Sergio had decided to come along, she had no idea, but if he made Jemima feel better, then she didn't want to question it. All though, she wasn't sure if she should really trust him.

When they walked inside, Jemima instantly saw a young woman with elbow length, light red hair that was pulled into a ponytail. There was something about her that made Jemima instantly feel safe, as if there was nothing that could hurt her. Whether it was the soft smile on the young woman's face, or just the energy that was coming off her, Jemima didn't know. Whatever it was, she knew that she was going to be okay.

"I'm Echo," the young woman signed, "but my friends call me Tilly. You must be...Jemima."

Jemima smiled, grateful for someone that could communicate in a way that made her the most comfortable. "Yes, I'm Jemima. My parents and friends usually just call Ginny, though. Or Dove."

She wanted to explain that she had always known her biological parents, Regina Castillo and Dante Lopez and as a kindergartner had started writing her name as Ginny, after Regina's nickname, even though she couldn't tell her parents why. Even when she was older, she kept going by Ginny because she felt that it gave her a connection to her parents.

"Alright then," Echo signed, "I'll call you Dove. But anyone else can call you either. Now, would you like to meet the guys, or can I show you to your room?"

"Room," Jemima signed, "Oh, and this is Sergio. Sergio Rodriguez is an old friend of mine from school. He wanted to protect me, and wouldn't even let Cinderella protest."

"I will take you to your rooms. I'm afraid Sergio's is much smaller than yours. It _was_ meant to be a guest room, I think. You can meet the guys tomorrow at breakfast.

When they reached the bedroom, Jemima saw the bedroom was stark white with plain furniture. She hadn't known what to expect, but this was certanly not it. "This is the room?"

Echo nodded. "I'm sorry that the room's so plain. This dump is going to be torn down in a week or two, but until we move, this has to do. Ever hear of a place called Everheart Mansion?"

Jemima's eyes grew wide as she heard the name. She'd grown up with the tales of the Everheart family, the family that had founded the city. The tales were made out to be just ghost stories that the kids swapped, but she wasn't quite sure. The home of the Everheart family had always reminded Jemima of a creepy castle out of one the medieval fantasy novels she was always reading, and had creeed her out so much the day her parents brought her to visit that she refused to ever set foot in the place again.

"Yes." Her hands were shaking so much that she had to force herself to sign. She hadn't told anyone what she'd seen inside the mansion, and she doubted that she ever was going to. She was that scared. Now, though she was going to have to force herself to go in there sooner or later. "I've been there."

"Ginny," Sergio said, "You are going to be alright. Whatever you saw there that day can not be that bad, or Josephine Everheart just would not rent out the place to a bunch of kids."

"I hope you're right." Jemima's voice was quiet. She'd met the last surviving member of the Everheart Family that day, and the older woman had tried to comfort her after she'd been really spooked. And though it seemed to work, she'd always had nightmares about what she'd seen and wished she had never even gone.

That night, Jemima lay in the bed, a stuffed penguin she'd found that she named Pepper brushing right up against her chest. She was curled up, snoring slightly when some footsteps woke her up. Because she was still in the t-shirt that her mother had bought her when they'd seen Jemima's favorite musical together a couple of years before, and a pair of leggings, she quietly tip-toed out of the room as she followed the sound of the footsteps. As she left the room, she pulled on the green sweatshirt that had come from the musical.

She didn't know where the footsteps were coming from, but she was almost certain that no one was able to find the hideout. Still, curiosity got the better of her and she followed the sound of footsteps. As she made her way toward the guest room, she thought she saw a little boy wearing a pair of blue pajamas with turtles on them, and a t-shirt with a turtle on it. He wasn't wearing anything on his feet. As she began to follow him, she watched him turn into a shadow that had the face of a skeleton. A skeleton that made her want to scream because it reminded her of one of the creepy skeletons in the horror films that her father watched. As soon as Jemima reached the shadow, it dissipated and she ran into the guest room, pulling her sweatshirt tight around her.

"Sergio?" She whispered, placing her hand on his shoulder, "Wake up."

"What is it, little Dove?"

Jemima explained what she'd seen as she snuggled up close to Sergio. He wrapped his arms around her waist as he pulled her close to him.

* * *

**The TEAM:  
**

*** Tilly / Echo - Me**

*** Jemima Allson -Me.**

*** Elwood Palmer**/**Slimeman** ** \- Rokebuto  
**

*** Jin Kuruso /Cinderella -gamergirl101**

*** Corvus Row / Birdman - Kunnak  
****  
***** ****Cassius von Lovus Shwarzius / Vladwing - MaMcMu **

**I also own Sergio.**


	3. Chapter II: Jemima

_**Disclaimer: I don't own DC Comics or the Titans.**_

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**Chapter II  
**_Jemima  
__*** * ***_

The next morning, when Jemima woke, she threw on the t-shirt and leggings that she'd worn the day before and grabbed her sweatshirt. It was so early that not only were none of the others up yet, but the sun had barely poked its head over the horizon. As she quietly made her way back toward her own room, she remembered that there was a book on the end table next to her bed. If she remembered the title right, the lengthy novel was about the Everheart family and though she was curious about what the book said about the family, she didn't really want to scare herself silly if it mentioned anything truly dark. If she didn't fall back asleep before even finishing a page. Instead of reading, she sat against the bed, rocking with her knees to her chest as she repeated the word "cat" like it was the only word in her vocabulary.

"Hey there," a voice said. She looked up and noticed a young man holding her close. His narrow, hazel eyes were filled with concern as he watched her rocking in his arms, and his short, black hair was curly and came to the tips of his ears. He was wearing a light green t-shirt and a pair of blue jeans. "What's wrong?"

Jemima refused to answer his question and looked away from the guy. If she wanted him to see her pain, she would send him images of her in the hospital the previous Thanksgiving or her roommate trying to talk to her about what had happened. Even pictures of her parents disappointed in her. But that was not going to happen when she didn't even know the guy or if he was open to receiving images or emotions from people like her.

"I don't want to talk about it," she finally said, looking away from him, "It's none of your business."

The guy shook her head. He could tell that she did need to talk to someone about whatever it was that was going on, but if she didn't want to tell him, then that was her problem and he should just leave it alone. There was one problem, though. He had a gut instinct that she did need to talk with someone about whatever it was.

"That's your choice." He frowned. Maybe with time, she would be able to come to someone about whatever it was. "I was just worried about you. The name's Elwood Palmer, by the way.

"I'm Jemima." She brushed the tears off her cheek as she remembered the skeleton kid. She remembered why he looked familiar before he gained the skeleton face. The four-year-old with black hair that came to his shoulders had been in her dreams every night since Thanksgiving, and for some reason, she'd now had a terrifying vision of the boy she felt as if should be named Nicholas. "Nice to meet you."

She turned away from Elwood as she thought about everything that she'd gone through in the last year or so. It had broken her heart when she had to let Sergio walk into the security line to the airport without her even telling him. Immediately after he'd disappeared from view, she had begun to regret her decision. And ever since Thanksgiving, she'd tried to hide how much emotional pain she was in. At least until she'd woken up that morning after spending the night with Sergio. "What is there to eat? I'm kind of getting hungry."

"Cass is making waffles and eggs," Elwood responded, "His waffles are to die for. But there's is cheese in the fridge. I think we have both smoked cheddar and Gruyere cheese if you're too impatient to wait."

Jemima's eyes went wide. "The smoked cheddar sounds good. I'll go out to the kitchen and find it. Also, I'm allergic to wheat. Just eggs for me at breakfast."

If she could have, she would have explained all her allergies, but she could hear her stomach growling. Instead, she made her way to the door, humming her favorite song.

"Any other allergies we should know about?"

She explained that just breathing in peanut oil or dust was enough to cause her to go into anaphylactic shock, as was getting stung by bees or wasps or yellow jackets. She told him that the smell of fish, liver or breathing in cigarette smoke was enough to make her noxious.

"I will see you at breakfast, Jemima."

"Thank you. For what it's worth, my parents say that I'm addicted to onions. And don't get me started on peppers. I make my own hot sauce using habaneros and use that or sliced habanero peppers in nearly everything I cook."

"We only have bell peppers right now," Elwood said.

"That's fine." Jemima took a deep breath and continued humming her song. No matter how upset she felt, the song always made her feel calmer as she listened to it. She didn't even care that it was from a German opera, not a musical as a her music usually was; the song always made her feel better especially if she was listening to it while working on her course work or creating her own programs.

She wanted to slip back into Sergio's room once she had a few slices of cheese, but Jemima knew from experience that he never got up as early she did unless it was for school. She also wanted to work on her project. The one she'd started before she left home but hadn't yet completed. If she got a chance to retrieve her notes and laptop, she just might be able to finish it. But, that was only a big if. She'd put the project on hold after Thanksgiving, not having the guts to look at any programming that wasn't course work.

Instead, when she returned to her room, she picked up the heavy book on the night stand. Even though the rest of her grade had read the book on the Everheart family when they were in ninth grade, Jemima had been unlucky enough to be in the one history class that didn't have it as part of their required reading. She also hadn't really been that interested in the history of the city she'd been born in, instead reading every thing that she could get her hands on about computer programming, and emotions.

Even though Jemima knew that she had to read the book if she wanted to be patient while she waited for everyone else to be awake, she wawsn't sure if she really was interested in the Everheart family except for the fact that she was surely going to be moving into the mansion with the rest of the people she had yet to meet. And there was also the fact that the tears kept trickling down her cheeks due to the fact she'd started thinking about what had happened. She hadn't even told Sergio what had happened since she had not expected to ever see him again after they'd parted ways.

As she picked up the book, she knew that she had a gut instinct to read it, even if it was only a few chapters. There was something that was drawing her to the family's home in the same way that she felt that something was drawing her towards Tilly, and away from Sergio.

_The year was 1893, and twenty year old Judson Moore had just moved into the area when he met up with the daughter of Anna and Oliver Everheart, Mary Elizabeth. The two had instantly clicked and fell in love over the next couple of months.  
_

Jemima's eyes went wide as she read the name Judson Moore. She knew her adoptive parents were related to the Moore's through Judson's uncle, Thaddeus Moore. The Moores had been a very influential family since they'd moved into the area and as far as Jemima knew, the current mayor of the town was a decendant of Judson and surely held more sway over the town than the Everhearts, whom had been in the town a few years longer than the Moores. However, since her history class had not taught her nearly enough, she was surprised that the Moores were linked to the Everhearts.

As she read on, the words started to swirl around Jemima as she became lost in her own thoughts. She thought of her grandmother, Elsa Morrigan and how close she was with her. She also thought about her biological mother, Magdalena and how she wished she had been able to have the kind of relationship she had with her adoptive mother and the fact that she was never going to have that with the little boy she'd lost. She also, as she did every waking moment since the accident, think about all the what-might-have-beens and what she would have done. The two things she knew for sure were she was going to sit down with her parents and Sergio the day after Thanksgiving and have a heart to heart with them, and that despite the fact she was going to struggle, she was going to somehow make college work.

"No! No! NO!" She whispered as she shoved. the book aside while biting her lower lip. Jemima had felt safe with Sergio, which was why she'd gone to his room after she'd seen the child-skeleton. Now,though, she thought that she was going right back where she was at the beginning of the school year. And that made her scared enough that she just kept repeating the same word. If she were around the others, she knew that she would be merely repeating what they said, like she'd done for a while when she was a kid.

She sat against the bed with her knees to her chest, just like she'd done before, only this time, she buried her face in her knees. Jemima had tried to bury the pain for so long after the physical pain had gone away that she just couldn't hold it in anymore. It also didn't help that she hadn't had any true friends other than Sergio until she went off to college and met Emmeline, whom had been so much help to her. Now that she'd left the dorm, she just felt like so much of a fraud for even wanting a friend in the first place that she didn't think she could go back and face Emmeline.

Before Jemima realized how much time had gone by, she felt someone tap on her knees and looked up. Tilly was standing there, wearing a pair of tight fitting, teal shorts and a grey tank top. Her hair was pulled into a braid that had looked as if it had been slept in. On her feet were a pair of moccasins.

"_Good morning, Jemima,"_ Tilly signed, "_Breakfast is cooking, so it should be a few minutes. How did you sleep last night?"_

Jemima shook her head, the picture of the child-skeleton back in her mind. Her hands were extremely shaky as she signed. "_I woke up in the middle of the night and ended up scared because of some kid that turned into a skeleton."_

Tilly nodded. She knew that with her powers, she could see the memories of others. While it worked best when she made eye contact with others, she had figured out a combination of signs that would allow her to use her powers and make eye contact with others. "_So you went into Sergio's room?"_

Jemima raised her eyebrows. She hadn't known that anyone else had been awake at the time and figured that even though it had been just her, no one would even know. "_How did you know?"_

_"My room's across the hall from Sergio's." _Tilly smiled at her. "_I could feel your footsteps as you ran into his room. You do have heavy footsteps."  
_

Jemima laughed, slightly. She knew that was how she walked, and that no matter how much she tried, she just could never walk lightly. She even remembered that when she was a kid, she would be caught sneaking out of her room after she was supposed to be asleep. It also didn't help that between her school schedule and her active mind, she always seemed to get about five hours of sleep most nights and would just crash every so often. "_Really?"_

_"Yep. I often just sit awake, counting the stars that I can see out my window if I can't sleep and when I'm doing that, I can feel the vibrations through the floor when someone walks." _She looked up. "_Alright. I think it's time for you to meet the guys."_

Jemima nodded. While she wasn't that eager to meet the others, she knew she had to if she was going to co-exist with them and the only ones besides Tilly and Jin she knew were Elwood and Sergio. "_Yeah. I'm just the kind of person that doesn't like being around others a lot."_

A few minutes later the two of them walked into the kitchen, and Jemima saw a young man with hair the color of sand standing at the stove. His hair was disheveled as if he couldn't have been bothered to run a comb through it or pull it into a small bun and it just barely covered his pointed ears. His red, almond shaped eyes were so f

ocused on the skillet before him that he probably didn't even notice the two women walk into the kitchen.

"Good morning," Jemima said, her voice quiet as she watched him working on what had to be the eggs. "I'm Jemima."

"Cass," the man said, turning around. Jemima could see that he was wearing a blue t-shirt underneath the green jacket that she remembered the sports teams wearing when she was in high school, and a pair of grey sweat pants that were high on his waist. His feet were bare as if he couldn't even have been bothered to put on the pair of orange clogs that he owned. "So, how would you like your eggs? Scrambled? Over Easy?"

She looked away from Cass. "Could you do an omelet with peppers and onion? Lots of pepper and onion? I haven't had a _good _omelet in a while."

"Sure," Cass muttered. He hated cooking just as much as Jemima loved it, and would have preferred to eat cereal with marshmallows in it if it weren't for the fact that it was his day to cook breakfast for the team. Glancing around, she saw that the rest of the team was glaring at him, as if they weren't that thrilled with the fact he didn't eat well to begin with.

"Mornin '," a voice said, causing Jemima to spin around to face a guy that looked to be only a year younger than herself at the most. She could see a crow perched on the his shoulder, casting a black tint to an already grey jacket. When he saw Jemima, his black eyes went wide as he had been out with the crow at the time that Tilly had tried to talk to the team. "Who're you?"

"I'm Jemima." She looked down at her feet, not wanting to make eye contact with him. As she did so, she felt Sergio place his hand on her shoulder. Instead of flinching the way she would have if it had been anyone else, she just let herself relax. "And this is Sergio, an old friend of mine."

If she thought that breakfast was going to be a noisy affair, she thought wrong. Cass sat on the couch, fuming that Tilly wouldn't let him play his video games until the dishes had been done. Corvus had taken his food into his room, so he could spend time with his raven, and because it was a nice morning, Sergio and Elwood ate on the porch. This left the three girls to sit at the table in the kitchen and talk. Or at least, that's what was supposed to happen, but what started out as a peaceful breakfast turned into an all out argument between Jin and Tilly.

"You should have told me about Jemima and _why_ you wanted her on the team." Jin's voice was probably loud enough to wake the entire neighborhood, and as it was, it was loud enough to bring everyone in. "It would have helped to know that she _was _the woman that you saw in your premonition and needed to be safe."

"_And if I had told you, you wouldn't have believed me. You never have believed me when it came to the premonitions, Jin."_ Even though she had no intention of getting involved in the argument, Jemima knew that she was going to have to translate what Tilly was saying. "_You just don't believe what anyone tells you."_

Jin shook her head. Of all the people on the team, she trusted Tilly the least even though she knew that she should be trusting her the most. After all, Tilly was the leader. Maybe one day, she look past the way she'd been treated all her life and be able to get close to someone instead of pushing them away from her. All she needed was someone to show her that it was okay to become friends with someone, maybe even love someone else.

As the argument grew worse and the two started hurling insults at the other, Sergio and Corvus started to pull the two apart. They didn't want to let the argument grow into a fight, and knew it had to be stopped before it came to that, but neither Tilly nor Jin were willing to stop until a sound like the alert on a cellphone went off.

By this time, Jemima had stopped translating as she not only felt uncomfortable doing so, but the emotions surrounding the argument had gotten to the point where she needed to remove herself from the situation before she had a meltdown. As she heard the girls continue to argue, she went out to the porch, where it was peaceful and she could have time to think.

She picked a chair and just sat there for what seemed like hours, lost in the thought of what might have been for the second time that morning. Would she even be with these people if it hadn't been for the accident? She didn't really think she would, but then, she couldn't have known for sure what was going to happen. All that was for certain was that she was with Corvus and Cass and Jin and Elwood and Tilly now for some reason. And she'd seen that child-skeleton the night before.

As she began to close her eyes, she saw Elwood standing there out of the corner of her eye. At first, she thought that he'd wanted to get away from the fight as well, but then, she could sense that something was off. Since she didn't know him all that well, she couldn't say what she picked up. It wasn't until she heard him speak that she knew what he wanted.

"Hey, Jemima," He said, "We've got to go. There's a villian out there we need to stop. And Tilly would like you to come along if you think you're ready."


	4. Chapter III: A New Day, A New Villain

**Disclaimer: I don't own DC Comics or the Titans.**

* * *

***  
**Chapter III**  
_A New Day, A New Villain  
***_

As soon as she saw who they were up against, Jemima wanted to flee as far as she could. She wasn't ready to face the person that had caused her accident again, and if she did, she was sure she was bound to either get so angry at what he'd done that she was going to yell at him until she was blue in the face or she was just going to shut down because the emotional pain was just too much for her to handle. And as it was, she just wanted to be wrapped up in Sergio's arm As as she told him what had happened. However, she knew that there was no way she was going to be until the villain was stopped.

Jemima stood there, looking at the others, she wasn't surprised to see that not only was Cass was clutching a bag of chips that she'd seen him snag from the cabinet as she came inside after Elwood had called her in, but that everyone was wearing costumes. She first noticed that Tilly was wearing a dark red corset top and a pair of leggings in the same color. She even noticed that Tilly had pulled her hair into a high, messy ponytail and had covered her face with a red, Mardi Gras style mask. The next one she noticed was Cass. He was wearing a red velvet tuxedo jacket and black pants and she was sure that he'd snagged one of Tilly's corsets just so he could fit into the tux again. She was not even really sure that it was working as he looked uncomfortable. Corvus had on a green and black shirt with pants that were the same. His crow was still on the shoulder. As for Elwood, he'd happened to become slime somewhere between the house they were using as headquarters and the street they were standing on. She couldn't even recognize him because of the black slime that covered the body. Jin was wearing a beautiful, white royal jacket that had blue accents and a white skirt that nearly came to her knees over white leggings and a pair of black, knee high boots. Sergio hadn't even said that he wanted to join in, so he'd stayed behind.

She wanted to punch that bag of chips out of Cass's hand as she turned to the villain. She didn't even want to look at the light blue parka that reminded her of the trip her parents had taken her on to Alaska when she was in middle school. It was the only thing she'd really remembered that she had seen at the time, but it had really stuck out after she'd been released from the hospital. And she'd vowed to never look at that kind of a parka again. However, she had no choice; she had to face the guy that had been the cause of her pain even if the only thing that she knew about him was that he went by the name Shadow.

"Guys," she whispered, her voice barely audible, "I know this guy, but don't really remember how."

Elwood turned toward her. He knew something had happened in the past, or at surmised it, but he had not been able to get it out of her exactly what happened. Unless something caused her to change her mind, he had to guess that he'd never know exactly what it was. And even if she did want to talk, now wasn't the time to be doing so. They needed to be fighting Shadow, not listening to someone talk about her past.

"_Alright,"_ Tilly signed, "_Birdman, you and that raven of yours take him out from the left side with Vladwing. Cin, Slimeman. Attack from the front. Jemima and I will come from the left side."  
_

As she watched Tilly sign, Jemima couldn't take her eyes off of Tilly. Even though it was messy, the ponytail still made her look pretty, and she thought that Tilly didn't even need the make up on that she was wearing. But that was her own opinion, and she didn't think that she was going to change it. But then, as she watched, she could feel butterflies in her stomach and she just new that her cheeks would be a few shades redder than if she'd put on blush. She just hoped that didn't mean she was falling in her love with her. After all, she was still in love with Sergio, right?

There was no time for her to dwell on her feelings. She knew that now was the time to focus on the villain that they were up against, and later on, she could figure out what her feelings truly were. And whether or not she could really trust that Sergio was there for the reasons that he said he was.

She let her mind focus on the battle they were going in it, hoping that the intense focus she felt when she was coding or doing her programming homework would show up instead of the horrible meltdowns or shutdowns that always reared their ugly heads when she was too stressed out or over-stimulated as a reminder that she was wired differently from everyone else.

Everyone else was getting into position as well. She could see that it was easy for them and that they'd done it before. But because she hadn't even used her powers in this kind of context, she knew that it was going to be much more difficult for her to be able to fight, especially if things became so bad that her autism became quite plain and all she wanted to do was hide underneath a table with her knees to her chest until things were all clear and she was calm again.

_Okay, Ginny, _she thought, _You can do this. You can be a part of the team. You can fight with them even if you have no training. You will be okay._

She glanced around as she tapped her foot. Tilly was taking her time in trying to get the battle going and Jemima just wanted to get it over with so she could go back and relax. Maybe if she could, she would buy herself a replacement set of ear buds since she'd left them on her desk in the dorm and she was in no mood to go back and face Emmeline.

The moment that Tilly gave the signal, things got to the point where Jemima wasn't sure what was happening. She'd never had to fight using her powers, and didn't even like it when her parents got into an argument or kids got into a fight at school. Her parents hadn't even made her take karate or even ballet when she was a little kid. She didn't even know what she needed to do.

"Just start punching and kicking," Tilly whispered. She wanted to tell Jemima to let her powers kick in if she really wanted to see what they could do, but there wasn't any time. They had to start fighting right then. There was no time to hesitate.

"Hey there, weaklings." The villain said before turning his attention on Jemima. "You can't even touch me. Your powers, Little Missy, do not even work on me and you're not going to even be able stop me.

Instead of running forward with Tilly, Jemima just froze in place. She didn't want to fight. The chaos was going to be too much for her to handle. The noise level was just going to be way too loud for her and she was already stressed out. She wanted to cover her ears, close her eyes and block it all out even if the others needed her to fight with them.

"Come on, Jemima!" Tilly prodded, hoping that would spur her into doing something. "I know that you can do this. We can't let the guy get away!"

As Jemima stood there, unwilling to move, the fight was going strong around her. Cass was trying to do a running kick to knock down the villain, but he was just not getting the speed that he needed due to his weight, and managed to land on the ground a couple of times. After struggling to get up after what seemed to be the third time, he tried to make eye contact with Shadow, but the copper haired young man had his sights set on the two girls in front. There was a reason why he'd been after Jemima since before Thanksgiving, but he was unwilling to share what it was.

"Hey! Slimeball!" Tilly wanted to take Shadow's attention off of Jemima, since it was plain that she'd been scared by what was going on and now, she just wanted to get her out of harms way. "Leave the girl alone!"

Turning her attention to Jin, she called, "Cin, Slimeman! I need a distraction, now!"

"Got it!"

Cin sent shards of glass towards Shadow, hoping that would cut him. Unfortunately, Shadow spun out of the way quickly enough that Cin's shards didn't even make to Shadow. Cin frowned as she clenched her fist. She thought that the glass shards were enough to cut through the parka, but the few that actually had did not even slice through the sleeve.

She glanced over at Jemima, whom was still standing there, frozen in place. Cin knew there was nothing she could do, but drag her out of harms way, even if Jemima did snap at her. She would rather that Jemima be mad at her than injured.

"Come on, Jemima!" Cin yelled as she ran over to grab her wrist, "You standing there isn't helping us! If you're not going to be fighting, then just get out of the way."

As Cin dragged Jemima out of the way, she could see that Shadow was heading their direction with his fists clenched. "Hey, guys! A little help!"

Corvus ran over, his crow flying high above him. As he ran, he melded with the crow, Karasu, becoming one with the bird. He swooped down, aiming for Shadow, but he barely scratched the top of Shadow's head. After all, it was protected by the parka's hood.

"Hey, you!" Cin yelled, turning her attention away from Jemima. She sent more shards of glass towards the villain, none of them even piercing the parka. Instead, this just managed to get Shadow more incensed than he already was and caused him to turn his attention on to her. "Shit! We need to get that parka off of him. I don't know how, but some how, it is deflecting all of our attacks."

Every power that they tried using just wasn't working. Everything was just making things worse. Even Tilly's powers were just deflected instead of actually being useful. There were only two people who hadn't used their powers yet. Vladwing had been trying to fight physically instead of with his powers, but that wasn't working, as Shadow was just countering every move that Vladwing made. Jemima had just been so scared to want to fight. Not even Tilly knew what her powers were.

"Snap out of it!" Cin glared at Jemima. "You've got to help us."

Though Jemima hated fighting, and the loud noises were too much for her, she knew she had to do something. Something that could actually stop Shadow from hurting the people that took her in. But she didn't know what to do. Her powers weren't exactly ones that could be used for fighting, after all. They were more passive, like she was. People could track her through her emotions, sure. Even someone like Tilly, whom was a dreamwalker could pick up her emotions...if they were felt during a dream. But she didn't know what else her powers could do; she just had a strong sense they were passive.

"_Tilly! Whatever you do, keep your eyes open!"_

Jemima closed her eyes, and focused on her emotions. To her, they were a language all their own. One that she had learned over the years to understand, even remotely. As she stood there on the side, she tried to push aside the fact that she was feeling scared and focus on the anger that she feeling over being unable to fight like the others. She also focused on Shadow and tried to force as much of that anger on to him as she was able to.

"Shit!"

Jemima opened her eyes, and saw that Shadow had gotten away. She had been so focused on her emotions that in the time that it took for her to be able to project her emotions onto Shadow, he'd found the excuse to slip among the crowd that had gathered. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she looked around at her teammates. "_Did I do something wrong?"_

_"No, Jemima." _Tilly wrapped an arm around Jemima's shoulder. "_Yu did okay. Shadow would probably have gotten away anyway."  
_

Two weeks later, Tilly walked by the bathroom, hoping that she could talk to Jemima about the schedule for moving in to the new place. But instead of merely passing by, something caught her eye, causing her to turn to look. She saw her new friend sitting on the floor, her back to the sink, so hard that it made Tilly worry about her as she walked inside and flicked the light switch off and on.

Jemima looked up briefly and buried her head in her knees as Tilly signed to her. "_What's wrong, Jemima?"_

She wanted to talk to Tilly about not only what had happened during the fight, but the nightmare she'd had the night before. Jemima wanted to tell her that in the nightmare, she was trying to protect two little girls whom look, d like identical twins from someone trying to harm them. And Tilly was there, too doing her best, but there was nothing that she could do to help Jemima or the twins. Unfortunately, she knew that Tilly wasn't going to understand at all, and was certainly going to keep her bound to the house if she knew the truth. After the fight, Tilly was going to make her stay behind anyway because of she always reacted to unpredictability. "_Just a stupid nightmare that left me feeling sick when I woke up. I'll be okay."_

_"No, it's not a stupid nightmare." _Tilly knelt down next to her. "_It looks like something major is going, and nobody can make you feel better if you don't talk to us. I promise. None of us are going to judge you. I was hurt by some people I thought were my friends, and I will make sure that doesn't happen to you here."  
_

_"What happened?" _Jemima looked at Tilly, curious.

"_Sammy and Jade, these girls whom I'd been friends with since kindergarten had befriended the popular kids, and at homecoming, forced me to come out when the pressured this girl I had a crush on to not only dance with me, but kiss me as well. Both she and I were mortified, and tried to enjoy the rest of the night. Unfortunately, Sammy, Jade and the popular kids bullied both the other girl and me the rest of high school, and I left home the night of graduation and never looked back. I sometimes wonder what happened to Grace after high school." _Tilly looked away, hoping that Jemima couldn't see the pain on her face. "_Would you care to talk about what's wrong?"_

Jemima didn't know how to answer her. She wanted the comfort of knowing there was someone she could turn to, but she wasn't sure yet about opening up to someone about her past. On the other hand, something about Tilly made her feel like she could tell her absolutely anything. Instead, she just looked away from Tilly as she signed. "_It was just a horrible nightmare, okay? And I woke up feeling sick. That's all."_

She just didn't want to be off the team just because of the one night that she had slipped into Sergio's room after seeing the child-skeleton. Nor did she really care to be off the team just because of how she reacted.

"_Blackbird twisted in the night  
Forever holding its glory and might  
Holding on to its happiness and light  
Watching the sun and moon shine bright  
_

_Those are the words I kept hearing in the nightmare as I dreamed it. I don't understand what they're saying. I'm not good at that kind of thing, and prefer the straight out logic of computer programming."_

_"We can work on figuring out what they mean together. But for now, we do need to talk about what happened." _Tilly looked at her friend, concerned about the last fight they'd been in. "_You had a shutdown or something when we were fighting Shadow, and I am concerned about you being in the field."_

_"It's not something I can control, Tilly. No matter how much I try, I can't really control what happens when I'm scared or hear loud noises."_

_"I understand, but I think it might be best for you to stay behind and help us behind the scenes, Ginny." _Jemima couldn't believe that Tilly had just called her Ginny for the first time, and stared at her. "_You're really good with computers, and I think that where you can help us the most is being our cyber and tech expert. You're shut down in the field did show me that you're not ready to be an active fighter. Maybe one day, but now's not the best time.  
_

_"It's okay. I know what you're saying. Thanks for not kicking me off the team."_

_"You're welcome."_ Tilly glanced away quickly, before making eye contact again and winking. "_And don't worry about your secret. I'll keep it safe as long you want me to. Promise me you'll talk to Sergio."  
_

Jemima watched her walk away. She knew that Tilly was right. She had to talk to Sergio before it was too late and he got mad at her for not telling her about the accident, but now, six months later, she was not only pregnant again, but scared as well that she could turn to since she didn't know if she could trust anyone but Tilly and Sergio to know. And she certainly wasn't going to figure out a way to get in contact with her parents and tell them that the little girl they'd raised since birth was pregnant.

"_Oh, and I thought I'd give you a heads up." _Tilly had stopped at the doorway and turned to face Jemima. "_We're moving into the Everheart Mansion on Thursday. If there's anything that you need to get from your dorm, I'd do it_ now."

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**If you have any suggestions for names for Jemima's kid or something you want to see happen, PM me.**


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